


The Steadfast Eternity of Mountains

by shadowmaat, SLWalker



Series: Game of Thrones: Alderaan [18]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: (Almost), (because he deserves soft sweaters), Clawing, Femdom, Fertility Issues, Fluff, Healthy Relationships, Heartbreak, Illustrations, Impromptu Dissection (of leeches- all off screen), Light Dom/sub, Maul in soft sweaters, Multi, No guy was made for gold eyeliner like this guy, Obi-Wan with flowers in his hair, Pining, Playing Hooky, Portrait studies, SO MUCH FLUFF, Sex, Snippets, long-suffering undergrad, self blame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-03-23 08:04:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 3,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13783272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowmaat/pseuds/shadowmaat, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SLWalker/pseuds/SLWalker
Summary: Pieces of the lives of the principle cast of GoT:A, as well as the occasional bit of artwork.





	1. Fic: Poetry

**Author's Note:**

> These probably won't end up being in chronological order or anything. These are all just responses to prompts or artwork for the series.

The hardest part of being in love with someone who didn’t know you were was the  _longing;_ the ache of it, not like a wound or a torn muscle, but something sweeter and more sore at once. 

One of Maul’s last classes with House Organa’s tutor was on Alderaanian literature; he mostly just did the work to get through it, not terribly interested in the subject, but as he watched Bail laugh with a few of his old University friends, he thought,  _I love you not with the perfect impermanence of a rose, but with the steadfast eternity of mountains_.

He might not have been terribly interested in poetry, but he knew a truth when he read one.


	2. Fic: Off-Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Per shadowmaat's prompt: _Lord Maul usually seems to be in tune with the planet around him, but every once in a while he still has an "off" day._

When Maul came limping in from the garage of the Estate, covered head-to-toe in mud, sporting torn pants and various scrapes, Bail was pretty quick to drop everything to check him over, though Maul tried (rather unsuccessfully) to fend off the concern.

“Kriff, you look like you fell off a mountain,” Bail said, trying to calculate the easiest method to get his lover into a shower without causing a disaster that would need cleaned up later on.

Maul gave a thoroughly tired shrug in answer, clods of mud falling on the mat just inside of the door. “I did. One moment I was jokingly lamenting the lack of good samples and the next–”

Bail winced, reaching out and dislodging the looser bits; at least the floor mat was fairly easy to deal with. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the mountain couldn’t take a joke.”

(Some years later, Bail would wonder if maybe he was _right_ about that.)

“You probably don’t want to know what the interior of your speeder looks like right now,” Maul said, with a grimace.

“I think I have more important things to worry about at the moment, love,” Bail answered, a little smile creeping up on him as he just picked Maul up, figuring they could _both_ now use a good shower.


	3. Art: Bail x Maul (NSFW)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One full-color and one just a sketch, both adult. (And yes, Bail really is a tree compared to Maul. XD)

Reblog the first one **[here](https://sl-walker.tumblr.com/post/170162906809)** , or the second one **[here](https://sl-walker.tumblr.com/post/171008446199)**.


	4. Fic: Treat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Off a prompt from Merfilly: _I think a bit of Bail trying to find the perfect treat for both Breha and Maul would be a cute thing. Given that I think he has a bit of a perfectionist streak on gifting._

Maul liked skiing, but Breha was tepid on it (though she was more than capable of doing it). Breha was especially fond of long baths with oils, but Maul tended to just take a shower (albeit a long one) and didn’t bother soaking unless he was cold or had some other cause. They didn’t share exactly the same taste in wine – Bre liked red, Maul preferred white – and where Bre definitely had a sweet tooth, Maul only occasionally cared for something sugary.

Their relationship as a trio had evolved so slowly that there was no official date to celebrate as an anniversary, though Bail celebrated his anniversary with each of them as individuals; the date that Maul first kissed him, years ago, and the date he and Breha got married.

Still, he wanted to do _something_ to just– celebrate. To celebrate them, the three of them.

It was just figuring out _what_.

They both liked flowers, but that seemed a little cliché. They both liked getting a massage, so that was an easy one to stick on the list; Bail could – and did more than once – spend a couple hours working them over head-to-toe, until they were both sprawled out dead asleep in bed.

They both liked some forms of jewelry, but no matter how much Bail tried to decide, he kept coming up short on what to pick out; he had already bought every possible kind of stud there was in every possible color for Maul's ears, and Breha had a vast collection of jewelry she didn't wear but for formal occasions. Neither of them liked a big fuss being made over them, so hiring someone to serenade was obviously out of the question.

Ultimately, Bail figured out that maybe he was kind of overthinking things.

So, he hauled out the dark red satin sheets. He made the bed. He lit candles and showered and then came out to stretch out naked on said bed, and then had to spend some time convincing himself that he was _perfectly acceptable_ as a gift, and that even if he wasn’t always one hundred percent confident in himself, they found him pleasing.

He was still blushing when they came in, though, after they had been out giving a presentation on Alderaan’s reforestation fund for colony worlds.

But no matter how shaky Bail’s self-confidence could occasionally get in his pushing-forty form, all it took was the bright delight lighting up in Breha’s dark eyes at the sight of him, and the look of wonder on Maul’s face, which hadn’t faded even a little over the years, to remind him of just how loved and wanted he really was.

“So, uh,” he said, and stole a cue from them by sliding his bottom lip through his teeth before finishing, “to us?”

Given how fast they stripped – Bail thought maybe Maul’s boots made a speed record coming off his feet and Breha popped buttons getting out of her blouse – he figured the answer was an enthusiastic _yes_.


	5. Fic: Damage Deposit

The scratches in the finish of the hardwood floor were both unexpected and distinctive.

“We can pass them off as claw marks?” Bail asked, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down at them. “Uh– a manka cat got loose in here and–”

Bre eyed him, mouth pulled into a straight line of amusement. “No one’s going to believe someone brought a manka cat into a rental lodge, dear-heart.”

“Why would anyone do that?” Maul asked, drowsily, coming to peer between them at what was under discussion, wearing nothing but a robe he didn’t even bother cinching.

Bail pointed and Bre dropped her head, chewing on a grin.

Maul eyed the marks his horns had left, then cleared his throat. “Maybe we can throw something over them?”

They all three eyed the rug by the door, then Bail just started chuckling. “So much for the damage deposit.”


	6. Fic & Art: Waiting (NSFW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Picture by me (Steff), words by shadowmaat. XD

* * *

 

Breha had him posed on the floor, arms over his head, knees up, and told him to wait while she answered a comm. Maul didn’t mind; the floor was warm, he knew he was safe, and better yet he knew what reward awaited him at the end. If this was to be an endurance test he’d certainly suffered worse.

After the first hour, though, he started to get… not bored, exactly, but craving a little bit more. He wondered how far he could stretch the bounds of “stay there” without being reprimanded- however gently- by Breha.

Flexing, Maul moved to rest his palms on the floor and pushed up, arching his back. He held the pose for a while before bringing his left leg up, pointing his toes at the vaulted ceiling. He shifted, doing the same for his right leg. Breha still hadn’t put in an appearance. He wasn’t sure if this was part of the test or if business had called her away, but he was willing to play the game either way. He walked his hands in a little more, increasing the arch and tilting his head back while folding his left leg under him, stretching until his toes touched his horns.

There was a tranquility to it; a simple pleasure in feeling the ripple of muscles across his body, the odd combination of strain and relaxation. He took a deep breath, aware of every minute shift required to keep him balanced.

It was as he was tucking his right leg under that he heard a soft sigh. He didn’t stop moving, but a sideways glance revealed Breha leaning in the doorway, her expression wavering between a smile and something far more predatory.

“I was going to apologize for getting held up,” she said, entering the room when she saw she had his attention. “But I’m beginning to think you owe me the apology for starting this show without me.”

Cool fingers traced their way down his chest and towards his stomach with calculated slowness. Maul hummed, completing the move he’d started.

“I do apologize, my lady, and will accept any punishment you deem necessary.”

“ _Any_  punishment?” Breha’s smile turned even sharper as she palmed his hip and began working her way inward.

“I am yours to command,” he murmured, voice going husky as heat shot into his groin.

Breha took him at his word and for the next very pleasurable while he demonstrated more of his flexibility to her while she proved more than limber enough to keep up with him.


	7. Fic: Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by Empress Elizabeth. _Ah heres a loose one. Got crew, one person tries to secretly set up a romantic dinner for just the other two, things can either go as planned and they get an unexpected reward, or things go to hell and they still get a reward for the attempt._

By the time they put out the fire, no one was actually that interested in eating.

Bail stared at the table linen and wondered what had provoked him to think that real candles would somehow lend more ambiance than the holo-candles that were invented specifically to prevent this sort of thing. It had something to do with scented wax, and indeed under the smell of the charred linen he could pick out a spicy-sweet scent, but right now it just seemed like a spectacularly _bad_ idea.

The idea had been to give Bre and Maul a treat after they had just secured funding for an endangered species reserve on one of their colony worlds. What Bail hadn’t counted on was Breha slipping her shoe off and stretching her leg under the table to stick her stocking-clad foot between Maul’s legs, and the subsequent jump which led to the candles falling over. Bail had been reading in the bedroom, having finished his own portion of dinner, when he heard the sudden cursing in several colorful languages that Bre had picked up before they were married.

It wasn’t a bad fire, but it definitely left them all three standing there breathing hard from the startle and adrenaline.

Bre cleared her throat quietly. “You know, I think I’d rather just skip to the part where we light the bedsheets on fire, next time.”

Bail opened his mouth to apologize, feeling sheepish and kind of silly, but before he could even get the words out of his mouth, Maul leapt on him and wrapped arms and legs around him, cutting off any attempt at being self-effacing he might have given, forcing him to widen his stance in a hurry or end up tumbling backwards onto the couch.

“Good idea, but I’m still hungry _this_ time,” Maul said, before taking advantage of Bail’s dropped jaw to kiss the breath right out of him.


	8. Fic: Risk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place right before the opening of Strays.

“The entire situation is unstable, Bail. We’ve sent supplies, we’ve sent volunteers, but there’s a reason why it’s been classified  _essential personnel only_  to every relief organization offering aid.”

Bail crossed his arms and barely managed to cut off the stream of words that threatened to jump out of his mouth, not breaking eye contact with his wife. She, in turn, didn’t break eye contact with him; there was nothing cruel in her gaze – he didn’t think she was  _capable_  of actual malice – but it was firm and hard nonetheless.

He had seen it before; when someone in their own government suggested cutting funding to their colonies or to relief efforts. He had seen it when some injustice was brought to her attention as Minister of Education. And he knew that after the first of next year, he would likely see it given to those who displeased her as Queen.

But for now, Bail held firm under that dark-eyed, diamond hard gaze and managed to pick the most expedient way he could to reply. “I’m aware of the risks, Bre. I just think they’re worth taking.”

He knew she wouldn’t force the issue. He knew she wouldn’t demand he stay  _or else_. He just wished he could explain why it was so important that he go, that he put himself in the midst of another world’s civil war, and help those he could. Even if he could only offer them strong arms and willing hands.

“Of the three of us, she is the only one who’s been in an active war zone,” Maul said, quietly; he had been watching between them, and until now had not spoken up once. “The only one of us with experience to speak of, and the only one who has accurate measure of the risks. I agree with her; it’s not the place for you.”

A thousand more arguments jumped forth in his mind, but he firmly clamped down on them. The tension in the air was almost unbearable; the anxiety, and some of it older than this conflict. The uncertainty. The edges of half-healed grief and loss. _You’re not going to lose me,_  he wanted to say.  _I need to do something, I’m sick of being helpless,_  he didn’t want to say.

“I’ll keep that under consideration,” was what he actually said, not unkindly, but firmly. Ultimately, it was Bail’s life to risk, and he was sure it was a risk worth taking.


	9. Fic: Blame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by Merfilly. Takes place after the third chapter of Strays, but probably before the fourth chapter.

“Do you blame Bail for getting me pregnant?” she asked, and for as weighted as the words were, they were no challenge. She asked the question because she already knew the answer; knew it all the way down to the very stuff her soul was made of.

Maul looked back at her so stricken by it that she almost wished she could jerk the words back out of the air _anyway_ , even knowing what purpose she had for asking. “Never,” he said, misery bowing the line of his mouth.

Bre nodded, hands aching at her sides, watching him fidgeting and clearly fighting not to pace. “Do you blame me for trying the second time?”

“Why are you _asking me this?_ ” It was incredibly rare when Maul raised his voice; hearing it go sharp for anything that wasn’t bedroom shenanigans was invariably painful, if only because he usually had to be hurting for that to happen. “You know these answers,” he added, a little less pitched, almost a plea.

“I do know them.” Bre drew on her long years of practice in keeping calm, though she wasn’t able to keep herself from rubbing one of her hands over the other, trying to quell the urge to reach out when she knew what she was going to say next would make physical contact feel like a trap, instead of a comfort. “Do you blame yourself for not being able to heal me and prevent either miscarriage?” she asked, frankly.

That was the crux of it. The point. It was also the first time that any of them had pulled those words out into the light.

He just stared at her, startled and wretched, and even though Bre knew better than to block his way out of the room, it still took all of her composure to prevent herself from doing just that when he retreated.

It needed asked, but oh, gods, she wished she knew how to just make this suffering disappear without putting any of them through it.


	10. Art: Obi-Wan

From chapter 3 of Strays.  You can reblog this **[here](https://sl-walker.tumblr.com/post/167713600384/obi-wan-with-flowers-in-his-hair-from-chapter-3)**!


	11. Fic: Hooky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early days, during Maul's first semester at University.

“It’s too early to move yet.”

The warm body he’d slung an arm and leg over made no protest, despite the fact that it curtailed a stealthy exit.

Maul stretched against Bail and the ripple of muscle from head to toe made the idea of just letting him go even more unfathomable. Still, he said, after yawning, “Believe me, I’d much rather stay in bed with you another hour, but I have an early class.”

Bail grumbled something indistinct and protesting, dodging horns in order to be able to kiss his lover’s ear. The sun wasn’t even up yet; the world outside of the windows was frosted over and painted in shades of pastel pinks and violets, the kinds of colors which would give way to the vivid, crystalline gold of an autumn morning. He wasn’t so far out of University himself that he forgot mornings like this, where he had to get himself awake and ready in time to sit through whatever lecture threatened to put him to sleep as an undergrad.

Maul was scrupulously early to everything he had an appointment for, too. Bail was good about being in class, but he had usually gotten there shortly before it started; by contrast, he was pretty sure Maul was the first one into the lecture hall and probably seated close enough to ask questions without raising his voice, diligently ready to take notes.

“No hooky for you, huh?” Bail asked, loosening his arm just to skate a hand over the entirely fine body he was keeping somewhat pinned to the bed, unabashedly taking advantage of the fact that he could and also the fact that Maul let him.

Maul huffed back, reaching back and some upwards to give Bail’s hair a light tug. “I just _started_ , how would it look if I didn’t show up to class?”

“You can show up on time.” Bail grinned, unslinging his leg, but only so he could wrap his fingers around the blade of Maul’s hip and pull him back even more flush. “I mean, you’d have to skip a shower and you’d smell like me, but…”

There was a long pause there, as Maul was quite clearly trying to decide whether to give into the temptation or to insist upon being a diligent undergrad.

Bail grinned even more broadly when Maul cursed, and within a second, he was pinned to the bed himself and enjoying the spoils of his victory.

(Even if that meant he had to wear a high-collared shirt to work to cover up the marks on his neck.)


	12. Fic: Resignation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by Empress Elizabeth. Takes place a month or two before the opening of Strays.

Bail had never been given the silent treatment before.

He _hated_ it.

It wasn’t a punishment; Bre had looked at him, fire in her eyes, opened her mouth and then apparently thought better of whatever she was going to say before flinging her hand in the air – a gesture of frustration that she’d adopted from Maul – and turning on her toe to leave him standing gaping after her. Bail was left to fill in the gaps: She was so angry with him that she _couldn’t_ say anything until she was more calm and wouldn’t wound him with words.

That, somehow, made it so much worse.

He paced the sitting room, long legs eating up real estate faster than he liked, and chewed on his thumbnail when he wasn’t working his hands back through his hair. It felt like his bones wanted to crawl out of his body and take off on an adventure of their own, leaving the rest of him a puddle in the floor to reflect on his own actions and flaws.

And there were so _many_ to reflect on.

He jumped when he turned back to pace another lap and Maul was standing there, watching him with wide, worried eyes.

“I told her I was thinking of taking her uncle’s position in the Senate when he stepped down,” Bail explained, nigh on breathlessly; he had brought it up to Maul the night before, and hadn’t yet sorted what to think about the half-imploring, half-defeated look he got back.

The same look that Maul was wearing now.

“She won’t– she didn’t say anything, she won’t talk to me,” he added, when he got no response.

Maul dropped his gaze and it ached just to look at him. Then he asked, shoulders heaving in a heavy sort of sigh, as if he already knew the answer, “Why would you even want to, Bail?”

“I just– I know he wants to retire, and I just– I want to do something _good_ for once, I want to make some kind of a difference for the better.” Bail fidgeted, bones itching.

“The Senate is a quagmire of double-dealing and corruption. I can appreciate Bail Antilles wanting out, but it’s–” Maul shook his head. “You won’t be able to do anything there. You’ll just beat yourself up against the wall of it. Whoever goes in there ought to be cynical enough to manage it, and Bail, you’re _not_.”

Bail wasn’t so sure about that; he felt cynical enough these days. And sad enough. And– everything enough.

Maul must have known that; he wasn’t pleading, or imploring, just stating things based on how he saw them and fully expecting to not be listened to.

“I’ll– I’ll table it,” Bail said, wanting desperately to reach out and wondering when he forgot how to even do that. “I’ll think about it some more.”

He didn’t know how to interpret Maul’s nod; the heartsore resignation of it.

Nor, later, Bre’s controlled if angry response to the idea.

Maybe if he figured things out, he’d know how to fix all of it.


	13. Art: Zabrak in a Sweater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two portraits of Maul in a sweater. XD Because he wears them the moment it gets cold enough on Alderaan, and also, he's very cute in them.

You can reblog those **[here](https://sl-walker.tumblr.com/post/170997913394)** and **[here](https://sl-walker.tumblr.com/post/171442927979/hey-darthbiscuits-have-a-maul-in-a-soft)**.


	14. Art: Various pencil studies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a whole slew of pencil studies of Bail, Bre and Maul.

You can reblog all these **[here](https://sl-walker.tumblr.com/post/167894085354/bre-and-bail)** , **[here](https://sl-walker.tumblr.com/post/168138971034/speaking-of-gota-more-practice-id-done-awhile)** and **[here](https://sl-walker.tumblr.com/post/169412057719/bail-being-adorable-bre-having-none-of-anyones)**.  (That one of Bail asleep is my undeniable fave.)


	15. Fic: Impromptu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This-- is all because of Tumblr. Related to the story Field Notes, obviously. The inspiring post is [here](http://shadowmaat.tumblr.com/post/172255053054/sl-walker-jumpingjacktrash).

Professor Irwin caught up to Maul as he was making for the front doors of the University, holding a datapad, his floppy hair in disarray. “Wait up, mate, what’s this about _impromptu dissection_?”

Maul flicked a glance left and right, looking to see if there was an open door he could dodge into, scrambling to figure out how to say, _I killed several of them, and yes, some of them were endangered, but there’s only one living being I’ll allow between my thighs–_

“Uh– the– the lighting and weather was such that due to unforeseen circumstances–” _–how did it get so high up on my leg??–_ ”I had to move up my study of the internal anatomy of the leech to immediate, hence the impromptu. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to document it thanks to–” _squishing the thing into paste_ “–environmental concerns and the poor quality of the specimen after it had been dispatched.”

Irwin made a face. “Oh, shame that. Squished ‘em dead?”

Maul breathed out a sigh of– not relief, but knowing he’d been caught and almost being grateful not to have to come up with any other _impromptu_ things, like excuses. “Incredibly dead, but they aren’t nearly as endangered as they’d been made out to be.”

“Suppose I’ll overlook it, if you’d be willing to give a blood sample or ten so we can send another team to trap more.”

As if Maul hadn’t already sacrificed enough blood to this venture. But if it kept him from having to go himself, he was all for it. He dropped his head and then turned around to walk back towards the campus med-center, biting down a groan of displeasure despite the sympathetic pat Irwin gave him on the back as he went.


	16. Art: Maul and Bail (SFW)

Can't believe I didn't add this here.  You can reblog it on Tumblr **[here](https://sl-walker.tumblr.com/post/174997149299)**.


End file.
